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A united city is best way to go

LOWELL -- In all the controversy surrounding the Lowell City Council's efforts to discipline Mayor Patrick Murphy, it apparently has become a big issue on whether one is "old Lowell" or "new Lowell."

It left me wondering if I'm old Lowell or new Lowell.

I admit to being old -- in fact I'm quite proud of it. I admit to being 100 percent Lowell and equally proud of it.

But I also feel a part of the new Lowell. In fact, thanks to my various roles at The Sun, I feel we have been a huge part of creating the new Lowell. The baseball park, the arena, the downtown artist districts, the MRT, the downtown condos, new school buildings, widening Route 3, support for the university and Middlesex Community College, the creation of the circle of health, support for the Lowell Community Health Center, and support for scores of community charities, the Hamilton Canal District redevelopment are all initiatives that are part of the new Lowell for which the newspaper has advocated over the years.

I'm thrilled every time I hear a new family is moving into our downtown condos and paying $300,000 to $500,000 for a unit.

They bring new life and a new view to the city. They obviously want a good vibrant community and we can only be a better place when more people get involved.

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I didn't watch the council meeting, but did hear from several people, including a major community leader who said she was thrilled to see people who cared so deeply about the city make strong, articulate statements.

It now appears to me that this whole mess may have a huge impact on the city election. A lot of the folks who showed up to support the mayor were people who got involved in Elizabeth Warren's Senate campaign. What they did in that election can't be ignored. This area was the strongest vote for Sen. Scott Brown two years ago when there was a small turnout in the special election. Many in this new group got involved this year, Lowell voters cast nearly 40,000 votes this past November and Warren trounced Brown in an area he once had solid support.

In the city election two years ago, only 10,000 people voted. If this new Lowell group just turns out 3,000 more voters in the upcoming city election then we might see a very different result.

Many of the new voters are not happy with the bickering in the council over what many of them feel are petty issues and feel we are not celebrating the positive things going on in the city.

I'm all for more people getting involved, but I'm not for dividing people into old Lowell and new Lowell.

We need to be one Lowell. I am thrilled to see lots of new people talking about running for office. We may even see a primary in the council race. But at the same time, I don't want to forget the people who came before and set the groundwork for all the good that is happening today.

The mayor caused most of his own trouble, but apparently many of the new folks felt he was being ambushed improperly and there was a different agenda that would be disruptive to the future of the city.

Hopefully, this is behind us and we can be one Lowell with a positive agenda moving forward.

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